Steam & Excursion > SP steam in South Korea?

Someone posted this on an NKP Yahoo Group. Yes, he did sign it but I didn't include his name here.

Notice his reference to former SP engines that had been repainted. I wonder if any are still over there? I'll assume that regular service is all diesel or electric.

"About 35 years ago, I had the fortune to spend almost 5 years in South
Korea. During that time, I had an office in the Pusan (Busan) passenger
train station where the KNR still had live steam switch engines. The
mainline steam engines were located in the back shop on the outskirts of
Pusan. I had heard that an NKP H5 had been sent to Korea during the war and
remained there for some time. I spent some time searching for this engine
but never located it. About the best I could do was look at the various
tenders sitting around and looking, from a certain angle during daylight,
for the logos of the various engines. I was able to see the original paint
under the black overpaint applied by KNR and see some of the previous
owners. There were severl SP engines and many US Army Transportation Corps
(Wheel of Shame) logos that had been painted over the original logos by the
Army in the early 50's. Never did find the mythical NKP engine but had a
hell of a time looking."

Has anyone seen any roster data that supports SP locos going to South Korea?

Have picture of Pusan train station in 1953 Rode that steam train from Pusan to north of Seoul. Cars had no windows or heat. Just about froze to death.

The only secondhand US steam I know of going to Korea were some ERIE 4-6-2s in around 1954 Never heard of any SP steam going to Korea

There is only one person, if still living, who would know the answer to your question about SP steam engines:
DOUG RICHTER--who lives South of San Francisco--

long time member of Pac Coast Chapter- R&LHS....
Only person to maintain complete photos and rosters of SP locomotives.. He thrives on the subject!

Doug has been a frequent photo contributor to scores of rail books for years. He is older than Arthur Lloyd.

Find DOUG, and you'll have your Korean answer.

KRK

Some C&O Consolidations went over, too.

Well if Erie and C&o engines went over, it seems possible that SP engines did too...


The west coast is a little closer. <G>

Are any of these locomotives still around?

Ryan

Probably not unless something ended up in a museum. South Korea is now a very modern industrialized country. Therefore, I would find it hard to fathom that an old U.S. loco would be sitting in the weeds and not have been scrapped.

But you never know. An NKP H-5 Mikado lasted until about 1971 in a scrapyard in Chicago. Then there are the N&W locos rusting away in a scrapyard out East as of recently (still there?).

The demand for and price of scrap has really skyrocketed in the past few years thanks to our Chinese friends so I would think about anything available to scrap would be gone...

But you would think someone would have photos taken in Korea--perhaps a G.I. railfan?


Nictd1000 Wrote:
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> Are any of these locomotives still around?
>
> Ryan

> But you would think someone would have photos
> taken in Korea--perhaps a G.I. railfan?

Charlie Ward is your man; unfortunately, he died almost 20 years ago. Aside from being an SP steam fireman and talented artist/photographer, Charlie served the USATC in Korea (712th Railway Battalion), where he served as de facto foreman of Yongsan Roundhouse. When not working on the equipment, he spent much time bugging the shutter. I have personally seen (and for awhile, had) many of these photos and very few of his subjects there were of American origin, let alone SP. Then again, he also had a terrible habit of never labeling anything!

Of course, this is just one man's collection and observations -- but if anyone would have known, it probably would have been Charlie.

People have looked for these ex-U.S. engines for years in the Koreas, but they evidently are gone.

Chris.

I spent a year in Korea, May 1994-95, at Kunsan AB. I was only able to ride the train once, from the city of Kunsan to if I recall Pyong Tek. During that trip (about 3-4 hour ride if I recall) I saw no evidence of steam locomotives anywhere, and we traveled through some fairly industrialized areas. Also of note, our base was served by the KNR almost daily to bring in jet fuel, and I do recall that being a diesel that resembled an MRS1.

On the American locomotive theme though, I do recall seeing what had to be an SD40 or SD45 tunnel motor on a freight that was holding a siding as we passed. Everything else was odd looking to me.

Like a dumb 19 year old however, at that point in time I was more interested in working (Do you have any idea how neat it is for a 19 year old to work on F16's?)and partying (no minimum drinking age in Korea) than railfanning and I do not have any photos of trains in Korea.

dschlegel Wrote:
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> On the American locomotive theme though, I do
> recall seeing what had to be an SD40 or SD45
> tunnel motor on a freight that was holding a
> siding as we passed.

There is a Korean rom-com movie released in 2001 called "My Sassy Girl", at about the 1:43 mark there is a roll-by of a Korean freight train headed by a tunnel motor!
Available on Hulu right now http://www.hulu.com/watch/487770

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sassy_Girl